Reality is as imagined as it is experienced.
Take Colour as an example.
For those who live with colour blindness the perception of colours are so very different to those who see three primary colours.
Yet when we share a photograph we agree that it appears the same as we see in the living world. No one can say that we see the same colours, just agree our interpretation is the same.
We can interpret what we experience in many ways and share these experiences yet we will still only perceive our own interpretation through the program our brains are running.
And I choose the word program purposely as that is basically what we are living in: A massive endless organic computer program.
We are programmed to recognise shapes and forms and assemble these into a reality. A common reality that our brains have been designed to interpret over millennia of living.
When I was a small child I had a vision that told me that we live in a dream.
It was explained that we are sleeping in another existence and are projected into this one.
This dream allows us to experience a form of existence but we are getting ready to wake and become a new form. Some of us have this awareness and some will dream for much longer yet.
The space we dream from and the space we dream of are like the Yin and Yang.
Within each is a portion of the other.
They are formed by a sine wave; energy in motion from positive to negative. The whole is contained in a circle that represents everything.
This merely describes an explanation. It doesn't mean that this symbolism or the source are any more real than anything else. I am not purporting that any ancient text is right or a universal truth. There is truth in all the texts we have at our disposal. Many past dreamers have woken and seen the world for what it is. Some wrote this down and only in the manner they understood at the time.
When I had my childhood vision I saw the Lamb of God. That lamb with the spear like staff and the symbolism of the Christian Church. I attributed this, both at the time and since, to be due to my exposure to this religious symbolism. I have never taken it to mean that there is any more truth in the Christian faith than that of any other.
What I was told is that we live in a dream. The dream has many forms and can be woven in many ways, including ones which we create for ourselves. We are given a destination through this life but we choose our roads.
The task we have is to enjoy this reality and preserve it for others. If we destroy what we have then there will be one less place for the dreaming to take place.
For so many dreamers the attachment to this 'reality' is enough to keep them returning here after 'death'. Their families, past experiences, regrets, desires to put right what they may have done wrong, all draw these dreamers back.
Ever heard someone say 'that child is so like their grandparent'?
Ever considered Genius?
Some of you may have felt a connection to something beyond or before this life. These are parts of the dreaming.
We can consider enlightenment as an awakening, but as we have to live here in this world then we must return to the dream. We can choose to leave but then we will have to hope that our form is strong enough to carry the lessons from this life into 'death' and so into the next existence. If not then we will be cast back to keep working toward that awakening. That is why suicide is frowned upon. To take our life away in a moment of sadness or madness will leave us in a distressed state in 'death' and that will affect how we then return or don't. A gamble that may just leave you out of pocket later.
As a collective reality and species our purpose is to achieve this awakening. We are all heading toward this occurrence and there is speculation that a major stage in this development is about to happen across a large portion of the population. From my own experience I have noticed that many younger persons are well ahead of their years compared to when I was a child and I am confident that I was more aware than my parents were and still are. It would appear that the awakening is happening in steps but as more and more people achieve this state then the numbers increase exponentially.
For a tangible example of this look at recycling.
Back in 1981 when I was first introduced to recycling it was as cranky as vegetarianism was in the 1970's. Things were disposed of all the time and with no thought to the consequences. In fact the business world was still building products with a finite life and paying no regard to what would happen to the end of life product.
Since that time we have learned as a species, reaching to almost every part of the world, that we cannot continue to waste and pollute. It is a spiritual enlightening that may appear like just a practical worldly happening. Yet it benefits our spiritual life much more. Without a clean planet to inhabit, we will be less able to live happy fulfilling lives. We will be less able to achieve positive things that share happiness and love amongst our fellow inhabitants. Indeed we may not even have many of the inhabitants left to share with and that may lead to all sorts of disasters.
So whilst our reality may be a dream it is a collective dream and as a spirit form and a spiritual life form we need to preserve and protect this dream, this existence for all the life forms we share it with.
If we allow it to fail we harm our own forms in this and in the other realms.
Our goal is to spread Love.
Through Love we will bring about a better future.
This is spoken of in most of the ancient texts and is the underlying subject that has been passed down throughout history by all those who have understood the spiritual.
There is no other truth than this Love. It can be explained in many ways but it is the foundation of the reality we have found ourselves in.
When we feel that another person's ideas or beliefs are in contrast to our own we must feel this Love and know that each of us finds the truth by their own path.
It is a common reality but just as a colour blind person may see a different picture to their neighbour the material they see is from the same source and of the same form. That we can all agree on and we should and indeed must learn to see that this reality is our own alone but without others to share it there would be no point in having it.